Airforce Tanker Winner

[Mark Brye]

RRRRRR, so whats the deal with our own US Airforce not purchasing aircraft from the US?

[Silverback51]

I work at Boeing, and personally I believe we did it to ourselves.

Our senior managers, Sears, Condit, and that ***** that Sears hired from the Pentagon are still haunting us.

[clayfoushee]

Even Boeing aircraft these days have major sections and components sourced outside of the U.S. The "U.S. content" of Boeing and Airbus are about equal.

In this case, Airbus is teamed with a U.S. company (Northrup Grumman) for the tanker contract, and they will be assembled in the U.S (e.g. equal U.S. jobs). I think the decision came down to the A-330 platform being the more capable one for the mission than the older design, B-767.

[427 S/O]

This could, and probably will turn ugly like a lot of other government contracts, you know!....the contractor is well under way with production, then calls a meeting to say 'it's costing more than we anticipated'...sound familiar.....

[Ron61]

I don't think it is just the Govt. alone causing a lot of this. When was the last time that you saw a state highway job or anything major that was finished on time and at the estimated cost? It seems that Cost Overruns have become a part of almost every major contract for anything for quite some time now. And if the platform they are using is the better of the two, then that part makes sense.

Ron

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by Ron61

I don't think it is just the Govt. alone causing a lot of this. When was the last time that you saw a state highway job or anything major that was finished on time and at the estimated cost? It seems that Cost Overruns have become a part of almost every major contract for anything for quite some time now. And if the platform they are using is the better of the two, then that part makes sense.

Ron

The only time they finish ahead of schedule is when they have a incentive bonus tied to an early finish.

[Ron61]

True, but that seems to normally lead to whatever it was they were building falling apart in a year or so because of short cuts to get done quickly. Although I don't think that is the only reason as the quality of work, at least around here, is not nearly as good as it was years ago.

Ron

[Ron61]

Saw this in the headlines this morning and thought it might explain some of what is going on with this deal. But after reading it I am not sure it is that much help.

Last-minute changes doomed Boeing tanker bid - Yahoo! News

Ron